Bethany's Peasant Bread

From my sister, Bethany. So easy, and so delicious. My favorite variation is to rub butter on top of the loaf when it comes out of the oven and then sprinkle it with some garlic salt and serve with soup or spaghetti or salad--really it can go with almost anything. Or try some herb butter. That's really good too.


Bethany's Peasant Bread

1 1/2 Tbl. yeast
1 1/2 Tbl. coarse kosher salt
3 cups warm water
6 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1. Add all ingredients to large mixing bowl in order listed. Stir with wooden spoon or mix in stand mixer until mixture is uniform.  Cover and let rise 2 hours or until dough begins to collapse.

2. You can use any portion of the dough anytime after this point. The rest can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.

3. When ready to bake, prepare pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal to prevent your loaf from sticking when it slides into the oven. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this without making a mess of my oven. Sometimes I sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal and put the loaf right in the middle before letting it rise and baking it right on the cookie sheet to contain the cornmeal mess.

4. Sprinkle the surface of your dough with flour, and cut off a grapefruit sized piece using a serrated knife. Hold dough in your hands and add a little more flour as you shape it into a ball. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends but it will flatten out.

5. One or two loaves is about right to fit on your peel and pizza stone. It doesn't work as well or look as pretty when you try to cram three on there and they are all touching. Rest loaf and let it rise, covered with a loose towel, for 40 minutes while your oven heats to 450 degrees with pizza stone on the center rack. Place an empty broiler pan on the rack below.

6. Slash the top of the loaf about 3 times with a serrated knife. Transfer loaves to hot pizza stone (or bake it on a cookie sheet). Quickly pour 1 cup hot water into the broiler pan and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for 30 minutes.

Like I said, my favorite way to serve this is to rub butter over the hot loaf right out of the oven and sprinkle it with garlic salt. Or you can also try out this recipe for herb butter.


Herb Butter

1 cup butter, softened
2 Tbl. fresh minced parsley
1 Tbl. minced garlic cloves
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Or, to simplify, sometimes I just use this butter.

*For an Italian loaf, try mixing 2 Tbl. of Italian seasoning into your dough in the first step.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Another recipe from Kaye. My dad says this whole wheat bread tastes better than the stuff from Great Harvest. My mom and I felt like real pioneer women after making this bread for the first time. Kevin says this makes the best toast.

Kaye makes 4 loaves at a time in her Bosch. My Kitchen Aid will only fit the dough for 2 loaves, which is about the right amount for my family anyway.

Learning to make bread has been a process for me. It has always tasted good, but I had a hard time making it look pretty. I finally got a loaf I'm not embarrassed to post a picture of. I've decided the key for me is to not let it rise too long in the bread pan. I fold the dough before I put it in the pan, and then I have to tuck and roll under a little bit more to get the top nice and tight.

My most recent batch, the loaf I thought was going to look the best when I put them into the oven rose a little too much over the top of the pan, so that when it came out of the oven it was hanging over the edge just a little bit. This loaf I took a picture of didn't look as good when I put it in the pan. In fact, it didn't even fill the ends of the pan. But it filled out as it rose and baked and ended up looking the prettiest. I'd love to have you post your bread making tips and tricks in the comments.

Warning: Before you start making this bread, set out a stick of butter so it will be soft when the bread comes out of the oven. Because there's nothing better than some soft butter spread on a slice of bread hot out of the oven and you will be sad if you don't have any.

Into the Kitchen Aid (with the dough hook attachment):

2 3/4 c. warm water
2 Tbl. yeast
1/8 c. sugar (about - depending on your sweet tooth!)

Add:

1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. honey
1/4 loosely packed brown sugar
1 Tbl. salt
1 1/2 Tbl. lecithin (optional - powdered or liquid)
3 to 3 1/2 c. red wheat flour (2 c. wheat into the wheat grinder yields me 3 c. wheat flour)
3 c. white flour (or until the sides of the bowl are clean)

I use 7 - 7 1/2 c. of flour total.

Remove bowl and let rise 1 hour. Scrape down the sides and turn onto oiled counter.

Cut dough in half with sharp knife. Form into loaves and place in greased pans. Allow dough to rise 1 inch above bread pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Originally posted 1/15/07 without picture

Easy Garlic Bread

I found this stuff at Costco that makes awesome garlic bread. It's basically garlic and parmesan cheese.


You mix it into a softened stick of butter, spread the garlic butter on the bread, toast under the broiler or bake at 350 for 10 minutes, and it turns out heavenly.


Just watch it closely so it doesn't burn if you put it under the broiler like me.

I keep my leftover garlic butter in an old margarine tub in the fridge.

Lite Lion House Rolls

I had these at a friend's house and can't get enough of them. This recipe is from the Lion House Recipes Lite cookbook.

1 Tbl. yeast
2 c. warm water
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. light margarine
2/3 c. instant nonfat dry milk
5-6 c. flour
2 egg whites
1 Tbl. olive oil

Use electric mixer. Combine yeast and water, let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, salt, margarine, dry milk, 2 c. flour, and egg whites. Beat together until smooth after each addition. Add about 1 more cup flour, 1/2 c. at a time (in your mixer if it will take it, or by hand), until it is well mixed in. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and kned until it is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes.

Gather dough into a ball. Scrape bowl clean and spra it with nonstick cooking spray. Return dough to bowl. Let dough rise in a warm (not hot) place away from drafts until about triple in bulk. (In a cool oven with a pan of hot water on a rack under it is a good place.)

Use the last of the flour as needed on the board for rolling and shaping the dough. (Don't use it all unless you need it.) Turn dough out onto floured board and let rest for 10 minutes so it will be easier to manage as you roll it. Roll or cut into desired shapes. Place on baking sheets sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Brush surface of rolls with olive oil. Let rise in warm place until double in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned.

Make 3 dozen rolls.

And here's the best part:
Per roll:
101 calories
1 g fat
151 sodium

Homemade Pizza

I got this recipe from Jen. My whole family loves this homemade pizza.

1 cup warm water
1 Tbsp instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 ½ Tbsp oil
about 2 ½ - 3 cups flour

Add the water, yeast and sugar first. Then salt, oil and flour. Mix until bread is pulling away from side of the bowl. Mix for about 4 minutes or knead till elastic. Let rest for a few minutes. Roll dough into desired shape. Poke with a fork to avoid bubbles, then top with canned pizza sauce, grated mozzarella cheese, and desired toppings. Bake at 450° for 10-14 minutes. Crust should be slightly brown.

Variation: Ham and Broccoli Roll
Make bread dough. Roll out ¼” thick. Spread ham, broccoli, and cheese over the dough. Roll up like a cinnamon roll. Cut into ½ - 1 inch thick slices. Place on greased cookie sheet so they aren’t touching but will tough when they rise. Bake on 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Tip: Let your kids slice the olives with an egg slicer. They love to help and they can't cut their fingers with it.

Orange Rolls

These rolls are very similar to Kaye's Easy Homemade Rolls. They are sweet enough to be served as a dessert, or I've also had them as part of a meal and they are soo good. Don't let these directions fool you. These are easy.

To make these rolls you will need a pastry cover board and a sock cover for your rolling pin. You can make one out of cotton duck fabric sewn like a pillow case to fit over a board or thin piece of masonite. You can find the rolling pin socks at kitchen stores. These two things are the secret that makes the rolls so light. You rub the flour into the cloth and the dough doesn't pick up as much flour.



Start by proofing your yeast.

2 Tbl. yeast, disolved in 2/3 c. warm water with a small amount of sugar, about 1/2 tsp. (proofing the yeast)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the following ingredients:

2 cups warm water
1/2 c. dry milk
3 Tbl. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs

Add your yeast mixture. Wisk in 4 c. flour. Add 2 additional c. flour with a wooden spoon. (6 - 6 1/2 c. flour total)
Cover dough and let raise approximately 1-2 hours, or until it doubles in size.


Roll dough out into a rectangle on floured board (rub flour into cloth and scrape off excess). Then, taking a stick of softened butter, spread about 1/4 of the stick on the dough, then fold the dough in half and roll out again. Do this 4 times and use about 3/4 of the stick of butter. You should end with folded over dough rolled to a rectangle.


In a small bowl melt about 3/4 stick of butter. Put about 3/4 c. sugar in a second bowl, and the zest of one orange in a third bowl. Sprinkle a little of the orange zest on the top of the sugar.

Using a sharp pizza cutter, cut the dough in half horizontally, the in 1/2 inch strips vertically.

Take each strip and wrap it around your index and second fingers of the left hand. Then dip it in melted butter, then into the sugar/zest mixture. The place the roll in a muffin pan (sprayed with PAM) so that the butter and sugar is on the bottom. You will be able to do a few rolls before you will need to sprinkle a little more zest on top of the sugar so that you get some zest on each roll.






Let them rise about 20 minutes in the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. This dough rises so fast that I preheat the oven while I am rolling out the dough, and by the time I have got most of the rolls in the muffin pans the first ones have risen enough to put into the oven.

When the rolls are lightly browned, spread the orange glaze over the top of each roll like frosting on a cinnamon roll. Make the frosting from 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar and enough orange juice to make a glaze (2-3 Tbl.) You want it to be thick frosting.


This makes about 3 dozen rolls. They taste the best hot out of the oven, but don't store very well. They taste best when eaten the same day.

Edit: I used to make my orange zest by sticking the whole orange peel in the blender, and while very good, it was a little bitter. I have since gotten a zester similar to this (only a few dollars at Target), and it makes all the difference. No more bitter peel flavor, just yummy orange goodness. And my latest and greatest zester works even better.

Banana Bread

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg
2-3 bananas
3 Tbl. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour

Grease small loaf pans and fill about halfway full. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on countertop before serving.

Honey Butter

1 stick butter (not margarine)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
about 1 Tbl. marshmellow creme
1 c. honey

Whip cold butter in KitchenAid with whisk attachment. Add marshmellow creme and vanilla. Slowly add honey while mixer is going. When all of honey is added, scrape down sides and mix again until combined.

Easy Homemade Rolls (half batch)

From the kitchen of my Aunt Kaye, which you know is always going to be good. These rolls are my first attempt at bread making, and they are so easy they have even inspired me to try a few other bread recipes (I can do this!)

1 1/4 c. warm water
1 Tbl yeast
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. instant powdered milk
1 tsp. salt
3 cups flour

Stir the first 7 ingredients with a wire whisk in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 cups flour with wire whisk. Add 1 more cup of flour and stir with wooden spoon. Dough will be very sticky. Do not knead. Let sit covered on counter covered with lid for 1.5 - 2.5 hours or until dough doubles in size. Scrape down edges with flat wooden spoon and turn onto floured counter. Roll into a circle. Cover with a small amount of melted butter (1-2 Tbl.) and cut with pizza cutter into 16 crescents. Roll wide sides to point. Place on greased cookie sheet and raise 40 minutes on pan, or until rolls double in size. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 9-10 minutes, or until rolls just begin to brown on top.

Makes 16 crescent rolls.